Joan Rivers Detained in Costa Rica Airport

January 7, 2010 (10:05 am) GMT

Detained over a passport mix up by the airport staff, Joan Rivers pokes fun at the official, saying 'I got a lady who was pre-menstrual.'

Comedienne Joan Rivers risked arrest in Costa Rica when she dashed past an airport security checkpoint in a desperate bid to catch a flight to Newark, New Jersey after she had been detained over a passport mix up. Airport staff didn't recognize the star and were flummoxed by her passport, which lists her as Joan Rosenberg AKA Joan Rivers.

The comic thought the whole thing was a joke and she ran out onto the Tarmac and started waving her hands frantically in an effort to catch the attention of the American pilot flying her plane and ask him to help identify her. But she wasn't laughing when the police were called to the airport - to escort her back into the terminal.

She says, "Then I ran back in because I didn't want to end up in the jail." The matter was eventually resolved, but not before Rivers' seat had been given to another passenger. The comedienne had to take a six-hour drive across the country to catch another flight the following morning.

Rivers is now planning to poke fun at the woman who kept her from making her flight home at every opportunity. She jokes, "I got a lady who was pre-menstrual. I got a lady who didn't want to know that they had made a mistake."